Tame the Emotional Eating Beast for Good

3 Ways to Get Back on Track

-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert

When weight loss professionals discuss emotional eating, you hear a lot of talk about stimulus control, stress management techniques, and cognitive reframing. This is all well and good (and you’ll be hearing some of that here), but it doesn’t quite capture the actual experience of being caught up in an episode of emotional eating. In a recent post here on the Message Boards, a SparkPeople member got much closer to capturing the experience when she described it as “waking up the Slumbering Beast” we have inside us.

This really is what it feels like, at least in my experience. You’re doing OK, cruising along, when suddenly something happens that stirs up a bunch of feelings, and all of a sudden the Beast is awake and eating everything it can get its hands on. Or maybe it isn’t always that dramatic—maybe you just get bored, or start feeling a little anxious because there is nothing going on to distract you from that vague sense of impending doom that always seems to be lurking just under the surface. Even that little bit of free-floating anxiety can be enough to wake the Beast up and set it on the prowl for something to eat. Or it might be as simple as getting home from work or school, or finding yourself alone for a little while, after a hard day. Whatever the trigger might be, the Beast isn’t about to go back to sleep without doing some serious eating first. Or so the story normally goes.

There are two basic and complimentary approaches you can use to tame the Beast before it trashes your food plan, and you’ll need both for long-term success. The difference between them is the same as the difference betweenemergency medicine and preventive medicine. The main focus here will be on coping with the immediate emergency. You’ll find more information about the preventive approach, aimed at putting an end to the problem for good, in the links at the end of this article.

When the Beast is Loose: Getting It Back in Its Cage
The bad news here is that will power has little effect on controlling emotional eating. From a psychological perspective, the shift into emotional eating modeis usually a “state-dependent” event, which is a fancy way of saying that it involves shifting into a different state of consciousness (or persona) with its own independent set of emotions and related thinking patterns. For a little while, you literally aren’t your normal self, and the normal tricks you use to manage your behavior and thinking may not work.

The good news is that your Emotional Eating Beast is a pretty dim-witted critter, and you can trick it into going back where it came from without too much effort, if you know how to do it. Here are some tricks that usually work:

1. Play the Stalling Game. Your Beast has a very short attention span, and if you can manage to stall it for just a few minutes on its way to the kitchen, it will often forget why it woke up in the first place, and happily go back where it came from. So, instead of trying to fight it and tell it that it can’t have what it wants, just tell it to hang on for five minutes and wait until you’re done doing what you’re doing. If necessary, you can usually get away with stalling like this 2-3 times before things start to get ugly, and most of the time, that 10-15 minutes will be plenty long enough for your Beast to forget the whole business and go back to sleep.
   
   
2. Play the Distraction/Substitution Game. If your Beast doesn’t fall for the Stalling Game, you can still use your superior mental capacities to keep the upper hand. The key here is to keep in mind that what your Beast really wants isn’t food, but emotional comfort. If you can find ways to comfort yourself that don’t involve food, the need to eat will go away very quickly. Find something you enjoy doing that’s simple and easy to do right away. Listen to soothing or inspirational music, take a hot bath or a nice walk around the block, logon to SparkPeople, grab the phone and chat with a friend, or do some inspirational reading—you get the idea. Think of the Beast as a young child who just woke up from a nightmare, and of yourself as the parent looking for a way to help your child calm down and realize that it was all just a bad dream.
   
   
3. Play the Good Beast/ Bad Beast Game. Even though the Beast may seem powerful and overwhelming, it is just as afraid of you as you are of it. It knows full well that you can and, someday, probably will just tell it to go take a hike, and that will be the end of the game. To postpone this unhappy day for as along as possible, the Beast is always willing to negotiate with you if you can muster up enough nerve to stare it in the eye and demand some sort of compromise you can live with. If you keep your kitchen stocked with healthy snacks that won’t kill your diet and your self-respect, and you let the Beast get its hands on them, then you can both stay relatively happy—until that day when you’re ready to finally toss the Beast out and change the locks.

Once you have the immediate situation under control, you can start working on ways to prevent this problem from happening in the first place, by learning how to handle stress and powerful feelings without relying on food.

Core exercises: 7 reasons to strengthen your core muscles

Core exercises: 7 reasons to strengthen your core muscles

You know core exercises are good for you — but do you include core exercises in your fitness routine? Here are seven reasons why you should.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Core exercises are an important part of a well-rounded fitness program. Aside from occasional sit-ups and push-ups, however, core exercises are often neglected. Still, it pays to get your core muscles — the muscles around your trunk and pelvis — in better shape. Check out seven specific reasons to include core exercises in your fitness routine.

1. Core exercises improve your balance and stability

Core exercises train the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen to work in harmony. This leads to better balance and stability, whether on the playing field or in daily activities. In fact, most sports and other physical activities depend on stable core muscles.

2. Core exercises don't require specialized equipment or a gym membership

Any exercise that uses the trunk of your body without support counts as a core exercise. Abdominal crunches are a classic core exercise. Try lying on your back and placing your feet on a wall so that your knees and hips are bent at 90-degree angles. Tighten your abdominal muscles, then raise your head and shoulders off the floor. Classic push-ups count, too. You can also do push-ups on your knees or standing up against a wall.

3. Core exercises can help tone your abs

Want more defined abdominal muscles? Core exercises are important. Although it takes aerobic activity to burn abdominal fat, core exercises can strengthen and tone the underlying muscles.

4. Strong core muscles make it easier to do most physical activities

Strong core muscles make it easier to do everything from swinging a golf club to getting a glass from the top shelf or bending down to tie your shoes. Weak core muscles leave you susceptible to poor posture, lower back pain and muscle injuries.

5. You can take it slow

You don't have to dedicate hours a day to core exercises. Instead, concentrate on doing each exercise with correct technique and proper form. Gradually build up to 10 to 15 repetitions of each exercise. Also remember to take a break when you need one. If you work your core muscles to fatigue during an exercise session, wait at least a day between workouts to give your muscles time to recover.

6. You can do core exercises at home

Remember, you don't have to trek to the gym to do core exercises. Try them on the floor at home while you're watching your favorite shows. You can even do core exercises with a fitness ball. To do abdominal crunches with a fitness ball, for example, sit on the ball with your feet resting on the floor, about hip-width apart. Cross your arms on your chest, tighten your abdominal muscles and lean back until your abdominal muscles kick in. Hold for three deep breaths, then return to the starting position and repeat.

7. Core exercises can help you reach your fitness goals

Aerobic exercise and muscular fitness are the primary elements of most fitness programs — and stretching counts, too. But to have a truly well-rounded fitness program, you should include core exercises in the mix as well. Whether you're a novice taking the first steps toward fitness or a committed fitness fanatic hoping to optimize your results, a well-rounded fitness program is the best way to reach your fitness goals.

Week 6 Challenge: Core Week

The Challenge (June 14th-20th)

This week is Core week! To complete this challenge you need to complete ONE of the following: Option A, Option B, OR Option C.

Option A

For a minimum of three days this week complete the following video:

Core Video

(click to watch)

Option B

For a minimum of three days complete the following exercises. Write down your reps and try to improve them each time. Click on the exercise for a demonstration and explanation.

Modified Plank

Modified Side Plank

Back Extension

Reverse Crunch

Bicycle Crunches Exercise

Balancing Seated Twist with Ball

Option C

For a minimum of 3 days this week you may complete your own core workout video (minimum 10 minutes).

Take the Stress Out of Weighing In

Take the Stress Out of Weighing In

Regain Your Power Over the Scale

-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert

Does seeing the wrong number on the scale make you crazy? Many people find that a “bad” weigh-in ruins their mood and saps their motivation, making it difficult to keep doing what they know they need to do.

Things don’t need to be this way. You can learn to use the scale as a helpful tool, instead of giving it the power to dictate your feelings and your actions.

Many experts and experienced dieters will tell you that the only realistic way to take the stress out of your weigh-ins is to skip them altogether—or at least keep them to a bare minimum. After all, there are many other ways to measure your progress towards your health and fitness goals, especially since weight loss is rarely predictable or orderly.

Although we talk about weight loss in terms of numbers—calories in versus calories out—your body is not a calculator and it doesn't operate like a checking account. A number of things (like fluctuations in water weight, increased muscle mass, and your body’s anti-starvation mechanism) can and regularly do conspire to make the number on the scale the least reliablemeasure of weight loss success. And if you’re the type of person who needs to see that number coming down on a regular basis in order to avoid frustration, despair and panic, frequent weigh-ins may be exactly what you shouldn’t do.

But let’s face it. Expecting yourself not to weigh-in frequently is like expecting yourself not to scratch when you’ve got an itch. For many of us, it’s just not in the cards. And besides, there are some good reasons to track your weight frequently. Since most of us don’t exactly match the “average” person used in all the formulas for predicting energy expenditure, you may need a little experimentation to find the right combination of calories and exercise that will work for you. Watching the scale as you experiment can be an important part of that process.

So, maybe the real issue here is how you can have your cake and eat it, too. Here are three things you can do to make sure your love-hate relationship with the scale doesn’t cross over the line and become part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

3 Ways to Take the Stress Out of Your Weigh-Ins

1. Be clear with yourself about what that number on the scale really means. That number on the scale only tells you how much you weigh at that moment. It tells you absolutely nothing about what kind of person you are; what life has in store for you; whether or not you’ll ever look the way you want to look or feel the way you want to feel; or how other people see or think about you. If you experience thoughts or feelings like these just because you see an unwelcome number on the scale, then your expectations about what weight loss can do for you need a major overhaul. You may want to take the Is Weight Loss Stressing You Out? quiz to see if you need to do some work on that front—before you paint yourself into a corner you can’t get out of.

2. Remind yourself that you are choosing to use the scale as a weight loss tool. It is NOT your judge, jury and executioner. It’s probably a good idea to post this reminder where you will see it each time you step on the scale. It can help to include a short list of the most important reasons why you are trying to lose weight in the first place, and some of the ways you can measure your progress towards those goals (besides the scale).

3. Use the number on the scale to actually help your program work for you. If you’re going to use the scale as a tool, you might as well do it right. Try keeping a journal (or better yet a computer spreadsheet) where you track your weigh-ins (daily, weekly or monthly), your total calories eaten during that time period (from your Nutrition Tracker) and your calories burned through exercise (from your Exercise Tracker). Once a month, add the numbers up and see if things are going the way they “should” be. Figure out your total calorie deficit for the month, and see if your weight actually behaved according to the "3500-calorie deficit equals one pound lost" formula. If it didn’t, then try to figure out why, using a method like this:

o First, go back to basics. About 90% of the “mysterious” differences between what should happen and what doeshappen can be traced to underestimating calorie intake and/or overestimating calories burned. For the next few weeks, double check yourself on your calorie counting, portion estimating, etc., and make sure you’re not leaving anything out of your nutrition tracking.

o If that doesn’t solve the problem, figure that there may be something wrong with the estimates you are getting for your exercise calorie burning and/or your non-exercise calorie burning (your basal metabolic rate—BMR). Consider investing a little money in a heart rate monitor with a calorie estimating feature to wear during exercise, and/or having your BMR tested at a local gym with a device called the BodyGem (costs about $50). Use this info to adjust your calorie intake and/or your exercise, and see how this new plan works for the next month.

o If all else fails, talk to a dietitian or your doctor to rule out any unusual metabolic problems, or medical issues. But again, 9 times out of 10, it's most likely a simple problem with getting the right numbers.

Above all, keep in mind that it is NOT a lower number on the scale that makes all the work you are putting into your weight loss efforts worthwhile. What makes it worthwhile is the increased happiness and other benefits that come with doing the best you can to eat a healthy diet, being as fit and active as you can, and doing all the other things that make you feel good about yourself. These benefits depend much more on your attitude and the quality of your efforts than on any number you see on a scale.

Shifting your focus from the scale to the quality and consequences of your own attitudes, perspectives, and efforts is the first step in moving from a “diet mentality” (which doesn’t work) to a “lifestyle change” (which can get you where you want to go).

John Wooden dies at 99

Just FYI: I'm sure many of you sports fans already know or have heard, but a few days after I posted the motivating article about John Wooden, he passed away at 99 years old. Here's one of many articles on his passing:

John Wooden's Passing

Week 6 Challenge: Water Week

This week is super simple. We are going by the old urban legend of 8 glasses of 8 oz. of water a day, Monday-Sunday, June 7th-13th. Doctors from Mayo clinic have yet to find where or who started this magic '8x8' or if there is any basis to it, but we are doing it anyway. While there is controversy over some of the benefits of drinking a certain amount of water one thing that seems to remain somewhat consistent is the aid in weight-loss when eating foods that contain a lot of water in them to give you the feeling of 'fullness'.

I am posting a few articles and letting you decide for yourself whether or not you think water is beneficial. I tried to find some credible websites and am just putting the information out there.

From Sparkpeople:

Water is a Secret Ingredient

Water: The Wild Card of Weight Loss

-- By Zach Van Hart, Staff Writer

Is water important? Well let’s see, other than making up 50%-60% of our bodies, regulating body temperature, helping our breathing, transporting nutrients, carrying away waste and helping our muscles function, water is pretty much useless. Oh, and you need water or, after three days without it, you’ll die.

So in other words, water is pretty darn essential. It can even be an extremely important (and often unappreciated) weight loss factor.

Somehow, though, water is one of the most neglected parts of our diet. Some of us possibly go an entire day at times without one glass! Every part of your body is dependent on and comprised of water, and the most important parts need even more. Your brain is made up of 75% water, your blood 82% and your lungs nearly 90%.

Besides being a vital component of your body, water also helps to reduce weight. The more hydrated you are, the quicker your metabolism works. When you are dehydrated – even before you start becoming thirsty – your liver has to help the kidneys function and can’t metabolize fat as quickly. Your metabolism slows down, causing some unwanted fat to remain.

If your body is used to not getting water, it actually stores more in ankles, hips and thighs. In other words, it doesn’t trust you to keep bringing water, so it keeps what it can get, like a thirsty cactus. Once it realizes the water will keep coming, your body will get rid of the stores and you’ll lose weight!

Plus, if you’re suffering from cravings or having trouble controlling hunger, drinking water is a quick, healthy way to feel full. Drink a glass when you normally snack, and have one before your meal and right before going out.

Staying hydrated is not restricted to drinking water; milk, juice and other liquids – even some fruits and vegetables – are good sources of water. But avoid caffeinated beverages (coffee, soda), as they actually cause you to lose fluids and become dehydrated.

The recommended daily amount of water is eight cups a day, but don’t feel bad if you have neglected your water intake. Even if you constantly drink coffee or soda, you can make some simple changes to increase the water in your diet. Here are just a few ways to get more water every day:

• Find the water bottles with pop tops. They’re easier to carry around and use than twist off caps.
• Keep a water bottle in the car.
• Set a rule with your water glass: once it’s empty, it gets filled back up right away.
• Drink orange juice or eat fruit in the morning.
• Get two water bottles, one for work and one for home. Fill up one every day when you leave to go home, and fill up the other before you go to bed each night.
• Order water at restaurants instead of soda. Even if you have something else to drink, have water too.
• Weekends are the toughest, so be aware of your water and fluid intake throughout Saturday and Sunday. Keep more than one water bottle in the fridge so you always have a cold one.
• Follow the example of a SparkPeople member: this woman put a water glass on her windowsill with 8 pennies on one side. Each time she filled up her glass and drank it, she moved a penny to the other side, until all the pennies were moved. Great reminder system!

From Webmd:

Benefits of Drinking Water Oversold?

Researchers Say Evidence Is Lacking for Benefits of Drinking 8 Glasses of Water a Day

By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

April 2, 2008 -- The health benefits of drinking water, at least for already healthy people, may have been oversold, according to a new report. The findings will likely disappoint water-bottle-toting Americans and relieve those who can never seem to down those eight glasses of water a day, widely recommended for our health.

But there is nothing magical about those eight glasses, at least when it comes to proven health benefits, according to a new report. "There is no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water," writes Stanley Goldfarb, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the senior author of an editorial on the topic in the Journal of the AmericanSociety of Nephrology.

On the other hand, he adds, "There is also no clear evidence of lack of benefit." There's a general lack of evidence either way.

Those doctors and others who have been recommending drinking eight glasses of water aren't basing it on anything scientific, according to Goldfarb. He concludes that most healthy people don't have to worry about drinking eight glasses every day.

He emphasizes he is talking about healthy people with kidneys that function well. And he points out that people who live in hot, dry climates do need to drink more water to avoid dehydration, as do those who engage in vigorous exercise.

(How much water do you drink each day? What other liquids? Talk with others on WebMD'sHealth Cafe message board.)

Health Benefits of Drinking Water: Search for Evidence

Goldfarb was curious about where the longstanding recommendation about eight daily glasses of water originated. "In my mind it wasn't that drinking this extra water would hurt you, but that you might not have to."

So he combed through medical literature dating back to the early 1970s, trying to find the science to back up the advice.

Turns out, there is no single study and no single outcome that led to the recommendation becoming popular, he says. Somehow, it took on a life of its own.

Goldfarb and his University of Pennsylvania colleague, Dan Negoianu, MD, next examined some popular claims about the health benefits of drinking water, trying in each case to find scientific evidence.

"We looked at the evidence of some of the so-called urban myths that have grown up about drinking water," Goldfarb says.

Claim No. 1: Drinking Water Helps Excrete Toxins

Drinking lots of water is widely thought to help improve kidney function and boost the clearance of toxins. One way it could do this, Goldfarb says, is by a mechanism called glomerular filtration, a measure of the kidney's ability to filter and remove waste products.

But in one study the researchers looked at, increased water intake by 12 young and healthy people actually decreased their glomerular filtration rate. And in another study, the rate did not change over time during a six-month period in which older men drank more water to try to improve bladder function.

In other research, increased water intake was found to affect the clearance of many substances by the kidneys, including sodium. But the studies don't prove any sort of clinical benefit, Goldfarb says.

"What almost certainly happens is, any toxins the kidney is responsible for excreting simply get diluted when the person is drinking a lot of water," Goldfarb says.

Claim No. 2: Drinking Water Helps Your Organs Work Better

Water is retained in various organs, so the thinking goes, and they work better with more water in them.

But Goldfarb and Negoianu say how much water is retained varies with the speed with which the water is taken in. If it's sipped, it's more likely to stay in the body than when gulped.

Even so, they could find no studies documenting that increased water intake helped the organs.

Claim No. 3: Drinking Water Reduces Food Intake and Helps You Lose Weight

Drinking more water is widely encouraged to help weight loss, the theory being that the more water you drink, the fuller you will feel and the less you will eat. "The [medical] literature on this is quite conflicted," Goldfarb says.

"Drinking before a meal might decrease intake [according to one study], but another study found [it did] not."

Even so, Goldfarb calls this claim one of the most promising for further study.

Claim No. 4: Drinking Water Improves Skin Tone

"From a quantitative sense, this doesn't make sense," Goldfarb says. The water you drink will be distributed throughout the body. "Such a tiny part of it would end up in the skin," he says.

"It turns out one small study showed there might be an increase in blood flow in those who drink [a lot of] water, but no one has ever looked scientifically [to see if it improves skin tone]."

Claim No. 5: Drinking Water Wards Off Headaches

Headache sufferers often blame water deprivation. But Goldfarb could only find one study that looked at this. The study participants who boosted their water intake had fewer headaches than those who did not, but the results were not statistically significant, meaning they could have been chance findings.

Second Opinion: Health Benefits of Drinking Water

The report provides interesting -- and sometimes surprising -- information, says David Baron, MD, a family physician and chief of staff at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center & Orthopaedic Hospital, Calif., who reviewed it for WebMD.

The most surprising finding, he says, was the lack of a scientific link found between drinking a lot of water in order to eat less. "I thought [the suggestion that] filling up your stomach with water might help lose weight makes sense," he says.

The report isn't dismissing the need to drink a healthy amount of fluids, he says. It simply showed no scientific basis to the recommendation to drink eight glasses of water daily.

"There is a lot of individual variation" in exactly how much water or fluid people need," he says.

Most of us, he says, are OK "by trusting our instincts" about how much to drink. "If you have a normal heart, normal kidneys, and normal thirst mechanism, it's not likely you will get dehydrated if there is a sufficient supply of fluids available," he says, and drink when thirsty.

Drinking Water: A Placebo Effect?

Might drinking a lot of water make us think we feel better, look better, and function better? Could there be a placebo effect to those eight daily glasses?

"I'm certain there is," Goldfarb says. "The placebo effect is very strong."

And if you're still convinced lots of water does your body good? No problem. "People say they feel stronger and healthier if they drink more water," he says. "That's fine. If they enjoy that benefit, so be it. [But] those who don't feel that way shouldn't feel obligated to drink the eight glasses."

From MayoClinic:

Water: How much should you drink every day?

Water is essential to good health, yet needs vary by individual. These guidelines can help ensure you drink enough fluids.

By Mayo Clinic staff

How much water should you drink each day? It's a simple question with no easy answers. Studies have produced varying recommendations over the years, but in truth, your water needs depend on many factors, including your health, how active you are and where you live.

Although no single formula fits everyone, knowing more about your body's need for fluids will help you estimate how much water to drink each day.

Hea

lth benefits of water

Functions of water in the body

Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.

How much water do you need?

Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.

So how much water does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need? In general, doctors recommend 8 or 9 cups. Here are the most common ways of calculating that amount:

• Replacement approach. The average urine output for adults is about 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) a day. You lose close to an additional liter (about 4 cups) of water a day through breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Food usually accounts for 20 percent of your total fluid intake, so if you consume 2 liters of water or other beverages a day (a little more than 8 cups) along with your normal diet, you will typically replace your lost fluids.
• Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Another approach to water intake is the "8 x 8 rule" — drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The rule could also be stated, "Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," as all fluids count toward the daily total. Although the approach really isn't supported by scientific evidence, many people use this easy-to-remember rule as a guideline for how much water and other fluids to drink.
• Dietary recommendations. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

Even apart from the above approaches, if you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or slightly yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate. If you're concerned about your fluid intake, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian. He or she can help you determine the amount of water that's best for you.

Factors that influence water needs

You may need to modify your total fluid intake depending on how active you are, the climate you live in, your health status, and if you're pregnant or breast-feeding.

• Exercise. If you exercise or engage in any activity that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to compensate for the fluid loss. An extra 400 to 600 milliliters (about 1.5 to 2.5 cups) of water should suffice for short bouts of exercise, but intense exercise lasting more than an hour (for example, running a marathon) requires more fluid intake. How much additional fluid you need depends on how much you sweat during exercise, and the duration and type of exercise. During long bouts of intense exercise, it's best to use a sports drink that contains sodium, as this will help replace sodium lost in sweat and reduce the chances of developing hyponatremia, which can be life-threatening. Also, continue to replace fluids after you're finished exercising.
• Environment. Hot or humid weather can make you sweat and requires additional intake of fluid. Heated indoor air also can cause your skin to lose moisture during wintertime. Further, altitudes greater than 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) may trigger increased urination and more rapid breathing, which use up more of your fluid reserves.
• Illnesses or health conditions. When you have fever, vomiting or diarrhea, your body loses additional fluids. In these cases, you should drink more water. In some cases, your doctor may recommend oral rehydration solutions, such as Gatorade, Powerade or CeraLyte. Also, you may need increased fluid intake if you develop certain conditions, including bladder infections or urinary tract stones. On the other hand, some conditions such as heart failure and some types of kidney, liver and adrenal diseases may impair excretion of water and even require that you limit your fluid intake.
• Pregnancy or breast-feeding. Women who are expecting or breast-feeding need additional fluids to stay hydrated. Large amounts of fluid are used especially when nursing. The Institute of Medicine recommends that pregnant women drink 2.3 liters (about 10 cups) of fluids daily and women who breast-feed consume 3.1 liters (about 13 cups) of fluids a day.

Beyond the tap: Other sources of water

Although it's a great idea to keep water within reach at all times, you don't need to rely only on what you drink to meet your fluid needs. What you eat also provides a significant portion of your fluid needs. On average, food provides about 20 percent of total water intake. For example, many fruits and vegetables, such as watermelon and tomatoes, are 90 percent or more water by weight.

In addition, beverages such as milk and juice are composed mostly of water. Even beer, wine and caffeinated beverages — such as coffee, tea or soda — can contribute, but these should not be a major portion of your daily total fluid intake. Water is still your best bet because it's calorie-free, inexpensive and readily available.

Staying safely hydrated

It's generally not a good idea to use thirst alone as a guide for when to drink. By the time you become thirsty, you may already be slightly dehydrated. Further, as you get older your body is less able to sense dehydration and send your brain signals of thirst. On the other hand, excessive thirst and increased urination can be signs of a more serious medical condition. Talk to your doctor if you experience either.

To ward off dehydration and make sure your body has the fluids it needs, make water your beverage of choice. Most healthy adults can follow these tips:

• Drink a glass of water with each meal and between each meal.
• Hydrate before, during and after exercise.
• Substitute sparkling water for alcoholic drinks at social gatherings.

Although uncommon, it is possible to drink too much water. When your kidneys are unable to excrete the excess water, the electrolyte (mineral) content of the blood is diluted, resulting in low sodium levels in the blood, a condition called hyponatremia. Endurance athletes, such as marathon runners, who drink large amounts of water, are at higher risk of hyponatremia. In general, though, drinking too much water is rare in healthy adults who eat an average American diet.

Our Personal Best

This has always been one of my favorite articles. It definitely motivates me to push even harder through my workouts (and do better in most aspects of my life, really)...enjoy!

John Wooden's Definition of Success

by Keith Ellis

They call it "March Madness". Every year about this
time, the sixty-four best teams in major college
basketball square off in the NCAA Basketball
Tournament, one of the most hotly contested
tournaments in all of sports. Many are called but only
one is chosen, and when the smoke clears, the team left
standing is declared the National Champion.

How competitive is this tournament? Since 1975, only
once has a team won back-to-back National
Championships. So it's remarkable to realize that
during the twelve years prior to 1975, a single college
won seven National Championships in a row, and a
total of ten championships in twelve years.

When that streak of championships began, I was a
freshman in high school. The man who coached those
teams was my hero. He was known as the winningest
coach in the history of college basketball. Looking
back, I would say that's an understatement.

Since he retired in 1975, only one major college team
has gone undefeated through an entire basketball
season. But his teams accomplished this four times.
They compiled the longest winning streak in the history
of the game: eighty-eight straight victories. That's two
and a half years without a loss. And in perhaps their
greatest achievement, over a span of eight years,
competing against the very best teams in the country,
who were playing their very best basketball, at the time
of year when a single loss would have meant the season
was over, this man's teams won forty-seven NCAA
Tournament games in a row.

As if those numbers aren't impressive enough, consider
this: the man coached in an era when freshman couldn't
play on the varsity, so he had to replace his entire team
every three years. Every three years he and his
remarkable coaching staff had to start from scratch. In
winning seven straight National Championships, they
had to do it with three completely different sets of
players. That is the stuff of legend. The legend's name
is John Wooden. He was the head coach of the UCLA
basketball team.

Whether you're a sports fan or not, John Wooden leaps
out at you as one of the greatest achievers of our time.
For those looking to unlock the mysteries of human
potential, Wooden's life should be required reading.
His accomplishments in his line of work are so far
beyond what anyone else has even approached that they
shout this question: "How did he do it?" I've been
asking myself that for twenty years. And I've finally
found the answer.

Years ago I read a magazine interview with Coach
Wooden in which he was asked how he scouted the
competition before a game. He said, in effect: We don't
worry about the competition; we worry about
ourselves. We don't go out to try to beat somebody; we
go out to play the very best we can.

There it was in black and white, staring up at me from
the pages of that magazine. It was John Wooden's secret
of the ages, the answer to the question: "How did he do
it?" But I didn't understand it. I wasn't ready for it. I
thought that the heart and soul of competitive athletics
was to know your opponent. Wasn't that why coaches
and athletes spent hours watching films of their
competition? I thought that Wooden must not have been
telling the whole story. His "secret" didn't make sense
to me, so I ignored it.

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege to preview
an intriguing new cassette album called The Pyramid of
Success, from Nightingale-Conant. The "Pyramid" was
created by John Wooden in the 1930s. He has been
teaching it to others ever since. It elegantly describes
his philosophy about life, work, and success.

Most of the album features Jim Harrick, the then current
coach of the UCLA men's basketball team, a protege
and close friend of John Wooden. Harrick's team won
the National Championship in 1995, the first for UCLA
in the 20 years since Wooden retired. So Coach
Harrick was a natural choice to do the album. But the
cassette that really caught my eye was the one that
featured John Wooden himself, being interviewed about
his "Pyramid of Success".

On the way home from the office that evening I popped
Wooden's tape in my stereo before I even had the car in
gear. What a treat it was to hear his familiar voice
sharing stories about his youth, his teaching career, and
his remarkable years as a basketball coach. I was in
heaven listening to that tape, cruising through the
star-draped countryside of beautiful Rappahannock
County, where I used to live.

Then Coach Wooden began to talk about competition.
He said that he told his basketball players not to worry
about the other team, but to worry about themselves. He
said that if they played their very best, they would be
successful. If they didn't play their best, then they would
never be successful, no matter how many games they
won.

It was deja-vu. I thought back to that article I had read
so many years before, and I felt the same reaction I felt
then. Wooden must be leaving something out. Surely he
must have worried about his competition. Surely he
must have scouted the teams he had to face. After all,
that's what everybody else did...

And then I finally struck brain. For twenty years I had
been trying to figure out what made John Wooden
different. And he had been telling me all along. What
made him different was this: the winningest coach in
the history of college basketball didn't worry about
winning. He worried about making the effort to do his
best. He didn't do what everybody else did, so he didn't
limit himself to their results. He didn't compete with
everybody else, so everybody else couldn't compete
with him.

I was still in my car when this finally sunk in, but I
started scribbling notes as fast as I could write. That's
not such a smart thing to do at 60 miles an hour,
especially at night, but I couldn't wait long enough to
slow down. I had to get on paper the answer to the
question I had been asking myself for twenty years. I
had to find exactly the right way to phrase it. I had to
reduce it to a simple thought, a simple rule for success.
And then Coach Wooden did it for me. He said:

"Success is peace of mind that can be
obtained only from the self-satisfaction of
knowing that you have made the effort to do
the very best of which you are capable."

I rewound the tape and played that phrase again. And
again. And again. I felt like I had just discovered the
Hope diamond. John Wooden was teaching me
something that I thought I learned when I was in the Boy
Scouts. But it never sank in---until that moment.
Success is making the effort to do your best. Do that,
and you can never fail. Don't do that, and you can never
succeed.

What's so revolutionary about the idea of making the
effort to do your best? Just this: the reason Coach
Wooden was such a consistent winner was that he
never settled for winning. Winning wasn't enough. Even
winning National Championships wasn't enough.
Wooden wanted more. He wanted his teams to play
their best. Every game. Against weak teams and against
strong teams. He knew there were too many ways to
win a game you didn't deserve to win, too many ways
to win without giving your best effort. And he knew
there were too many ways to lose when you didn't give
your best effort.

It was that effort that Wooden was looking for. That
was the reason to compete. Not to win, but to make the
effort to be your best. To make the most of the talent
God has given you. To make the effort to become the
best human being you can become. Wooden taught--and
proved--that if you make that effort, winning will take
care of itself.

Think how much higher his standard is, than is the
standard that most people live by. In Wooden's world,
you have to do more than come out on top; you have to
make the effort to do your best. Winning is the
by-product of that effort. Winning isn't the cake; it's just
the icing. The cake is peace of mind, the peace of mind
that can come only from the self-knowledge that you
have made the effort to do your best.

Imagine how this might play in your own life. Have you
ever gotten an "A" on a test you didn't study for? Have
you ever been given a raise from your boss, even
though you knew in your heart that you hadn't earned it?
Have you ever won a sale that you didn't deserve?

Instead of winning, what if from now on your objective
was to make the effort to do the very best of which you
are capable? How much better would you perform?
More importantly, how much better would you feel?
What would your life be like if you refused to settle just
for winning, but insisted instead on the peace of mind
that comes from the self-satisfaction of knowing that
you have made the effort to do your best?

When you think about it, there is a profound irony that
surrounds the career of John Wooden. As a coach, he
was measured by winning. But he won by refusing to
measure himself by winning. He insisted on a higher
standard, the standard of making the effort to do your
best.

Why is that a higher standard? Because we can't fool
ourselves. So much of what passes for success is a
matter of how we appear to other people. But Wooden
has always been concerned with how we appear to
ourselves. Are we giving our best? We might be able to
fool others with half an effort, but in our own heart we
will always know the truth. That is the truth he thinks
we should live by.